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January 31, 2005
Today at the Mall: PSP!!
So I went to the mall today for a preliminary interview at The Buckle. I didn't get picked up for the second round though because I lacked clothing retail experience. He said he would call me if any n00bs get fired or leave or anything.
I got some lunch at the mall. I tried this fast-foot Japanese hibachi place. I got chicken tempura and fried rice and accidentally covered the chicken in siracha. How adventurous am I?
I never finish all the rice
From there I decided to check out EB Games. I was talking to the sales person on the floor about the PSP and she mentioned that her manager had an import sitting in the back. She said he was gone, and she didn't want to touch it herself, but that I should come back in 10 minutes. So I did, and the guy let me play a whole race in Ridge Racers. What a guy! I've always thought nice of EBGames, but now I think a whole lot more of them!
Anyways my short impression of the PSP is simple: Freakin' Sweet! Anyone who is worried about the analog nub, forget about it. It's fine, especially if you're experienced with a dual shock. You hardly notice it's a sliding motion. It was all beautiful, and as far as I could tell no technical issues. I didn't experience button stick/squeak or notice dead pixels, but keep in mind I didn't get to spend quality time with it, just a quick race in Ridge Racers.
I've always been kinda fair-minded when it came to PSP vs. DS, but it's painfully obvious to me, the PSP blows the DS out of the water. Nintendo is really going to have to work hard for those third party games and exclusivity contracts.
SWEET!!
I cannot wait till I have my own.
Posted by akijikan at 8:59 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
January 30, 2005
Good Band at Anarchtica
So I went with Sam to good ol' skeisui and Sam took a likin' to it. It was pretty good.
After that we walked around for a while downtown because the show didn't start till 10, 10:30, or 11 or something like that and it was only 8:00 when we had finished at Sekisui. We hit up Greyfriar's (sorry no official page) for cheap but good coffee.
We walked around till about 9:30 and decided to go to Tom Foote's house (that is Anarchtica pronounced like the continent), but nothing was really going on, and since it was someone's house we weren't going to intrude until the scheduled 11 o'clock. We walked all the way to coolidge and back, what a long walk, and by that time everything was getting started and people were hanging out at the house, so we decided it was okay to intrude. Music didn't start until about midnight I think but Tricycle Farm was awesome but the other two bands were eh. The place was great because it was this tiny basement but it was still awesome.
Afterwards I took Sam to Ezra's house, which is above Hiroshi's Japanese Restaurant. I tried to take pictures of the show but there were none to be had because it was dark in the basement.
Posted by akijikan at 1:37 PM | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
Great Customer Service
So I was having trouble with my SprintPCS phone earlier, but that's all been solved thanks to the wonderful assistance from their customer serivce line. The menus are a little deep, but other than that, the service rendered by the actual person is great. I've always been impressed with Sprint, and this just adds to their claim on my mobile phone dollars. Thanks to them I could upload pictures again, so you'll be getting a fresh dose of updates.Posted by akijikan at 12:32 PM | TrackBack
January 26, 2005
Contradiction and Redundacy
Look at the subject of this post. I'm sure most of you are still familiar those ideas. To me these are some of the largest indicators of ignorance. Not that we aren't all guilty of these things at some point. I know I am, probably frequently too. So I'm probably ignorant. Maybe I'm ignorant because I rely on photos to update this blog.
But what had me thinking about these two things was something I noticed on a test-review I was doing in class. One of the answers contained the phrase "makes logical sense." When I saw this, I immediately thought it was redundant. If something makes sense, isn't it logical by nature? Maybe not. I don't know what the dictionary definition of sense is, but I'm not interested in what the dictionary says. Dictionaries are always at least 2-3 years behind the popular use of a word. I'm more interested in how people relate the word sense and its meaning.
That's another interesting topic. Where does a dictionary get its meanings? It must derive them from the way the word is used by people. Why else are new words added all the time? I see these words that are added and I think people have been saying that for a while. So why can't anyone use any word any way they like? I suppose they can, but often people will refute them. If it's a word that already exists they'll say "You can't use it that way. It means this..." If it doesn't exist people will say "It's not in the dictionary." So the dictionary becomes the choice for definition of language. Yet this is contradictory (to tie this in again) to the idea that language usage by people is what defines the dictionary. Where is this contradiction broken though? It has to be somewhere. Probably around the less educated or even children and teens. These peoples will constantly have new slang. Nobody cares enough to tell them it's not a word, and others will even pick up on the words and start using them. Many of the words recently added to dictionaries have been of this nature and it's a remarkable phenomenon. I believe it is anyway.
I'd like to direct everyone's attention to Choplair and his Kana-no quiz. I first stumbled across his quiz tool a while ago and was extremely impressed. I used it a lot and even mentioned some suggestions. That was a while ago, and not very long ago I recieved an e-mail where he said he added my suggestions and made Kana-no quiz 1.2. I was extremely impressed and this is the least I can do in gratitude. This is a great tool for anyone learning the Kana.
Also right now I'm reading the blog Extraordinary Ordinary Guy In Japan. It's a wonderful blog by a japanese guy written in english. He has a lot of great thoughts that I enjoy. Thanks to Simon (see Simon Undercover in the Blogs section of my menu bar) for pointing him out.
Posted by akijikan at 10:02 PM | TrackBack
January 19, 2005
Powerful Stuff
Where I work at Bi-Lo, there is a TV, VCR, and Computer in the breakroom for watching training videos and taking computer courses for training, but the title of this video takes the cake. The power of California Strawberries? Disregarding the title, why would a grocery store need to be trained in something so specific? No grocery store has a person designated strawberry person, and I'm willing to bet none of the produce guys would be able to tell me a thing about califonia strawberries. Wow.
Posted by akijikan at 11:01 PM | TrackBack
January 14, 2005
Sorry...Mush Warning
Okay, I know I don't like to mush in this blog but I gotta.
I miss my girlfriend a lot. It's been 5 days since she had to go home from her Christmas/New Year's visit. I am so sad.
that's her plane...bet you wouldn't believe me if I sad that picture came from my cell phone.
Posted by akijikan at 1:54 PM | TrackBack
January 13, 2005
Holiday Returns Policies = Full Retail Game Value for Trades
I'd been wanting Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for a while now. I'm a huge fan of the MGS Series. I had no money, and I didn't want to lost more than one of my games. Metal Gear Solid 3 is still 50 bucks and the only game I had that cost that much was Burnout 3. That and Taiko Drum Master, but I’m not giving that one up. I was getting tired of Burnout anyway. I thought maybe I could get exchange, but I soon found out that Best Buy only exchanges for an identical copy. I realized I wouldn’t get it from Best Buy, but I soon developed the following process. Follow along and get what you paid for your game in full trade value!
1. Procure game and receipt.
2. Take both to Best Buy and exchange for identical copy that is sealed.
3. Take sealed copy to Wal-Mart and exchange for other game.
4. (Optional) Get held up by a railroad bridge threatening to collapse under heavy weight.
Tada! Now you’ve gotten a new game after owning the first one for a month or so and still getting full value for it.
Posted by akijikan at 1:15 PM | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
Who would have thunk it?
was at Mia Cucina [theplaceforcooks.com] and I ran across the most peculiar thing. They stock rolling pins made by none other than the Vic Firth [vicfirth.com] company.
I have been a drummer for a long time and have long enjoyed using Vic Firth Sticks, but I never would have thought that they made rolling pins.
They have a cool metal handle that is shaped to the hand, and they have ball bearings too. Quality stuff.
Posted by akijikan at 2:41 PM | TrackBack